Quote:
Originally Posted by JiriHrdina
I never watched Howe so tough to judge, but is Jagr actually not a pretty fair comparison.
Which is to say - both of them achieved gaudy numbers through longevity and not by having out of this world single seasons.
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The thing is, Howe was at his peak in the 1950s, when scoring was just as low as in the dead puck era, and there were fewer games in a season. There was at least one time when he and his linemates, the Production Line, were 1-2-3 in scoring in the NHL. Howe won the Art Ross six times and led the league in goals four times. He truly was an absolutely dominant player for several years.
Also, he had a truly fearsome physical element to his game that Jagr never had. In an era of much rougher hockey, Howe was his own enforcer. He was simply a beast of an all-round athlete.
I would still put Howe ahead of Jagr on the all-time list, though it's not unfair to compare the two.